LIL WAYNE JOINS TEXAS RANCHERS MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL OWNERSHIP GROUP AS INVESTOR & STRATEGIC ADVISOR

The Kid LAROI, Emmanuel Acho, The Ruia Family (Essar Group), Alex Moore (8VC) and more join the team as part-owners.

The Texas Ranchers are backed by an illustrious list of owners, including Scottie Scheffler, Zach Bryan, Taylor Fritz, Bobby Bones, Kendra Scott, Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett and more.

AUSTIN, TEXAS, Oct. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Texas Ranchers – one of the eight founding Major League Pickleball (MLP) teams in the U.S. – today announced that GRAMMY Award-winning artist Lil Wayne will join the team's ownership group and will serve as a strategic advisor. Lil Wayne joins the Texas Ranchers' group of more than 30 owners, which spans power players from professional sports, fashion, business, music and entertainment.

In his role as strategic advisor, Lil Wayne will provide direction for the brand to help drive national and local fandom to the sport, further strengthening the Texas Ranchers position as America's Pickleball Team. He will also support creative ideation and the development of future apparel collaborations, and work with the team to build pickleball courts in underserved areas.

"Pickleball is the moment and I'm excited to be part of the Texas Ranchers ownership group," said Lil Wayne. "I've enjoyed watching and couldn't pass up the opportunity to join this team of owners."

"We're so excited to have Lil Wayne on board," said Evan Floersch, CEO of the Texas Ranchers. "From the get-go, we set out to build a team that, at its core, was centered in pop culture to support our mission of becoming one of the most recognized brands in American sports. Having Wayne's guidance, along with the rest of this incredible ownership group, emphasizes our stance on redefining sports ownership and being a positive force for good in our local pickleball community and beyond."

The Ranchers have expanded the ownership group with the additions of singer-songwriter and rapper The Kid LAROI; sports commentator and former NFL athlete Emmanuel Acho; 8VC venture capital partner Alex Moore; LA Clippers owner and CEO of Verbena Road Holdings Dennis Wong; real estate moguls Richard and Pam Squires; Matt Mullenweg, the Founder of WordPress; The Ruia Family, the billionaire business tycoons who founded and own the Essar Group in India; CEO and Founder of ENTITY Academy Jennifer Schwab Wangers; and CEO and Founder of Levitate Foundry Steph Liu.

The Ranchers ownership group includes #1 ranked golfer in the world Scottie Scheffler; award-winning country music star Zach Bryan and veteran managers Danny Kang and Stefan Max; United Talent Agency partner Mike G; Kenny Meiselas, partner at Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, P.C; Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons; Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett; Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson; #1 ranked American tennis player Taylor Fritz; one of the NFL's top agents David Mulugheta; radio personality Bobby Bones; founder and designer Kendra Scott; Raising Cane's founder Todd Graves; leading marketing group Get Engaged Media and its co-founders and partners Cam Fordham, Alex Dermer and Ben Hiott; and Hollywood brand amplifiers Ken Hertz and Liz Heller.

Additional owners include: Ajay Nwosu (CEO & President, TeqBall), Navin Chaddha (Mayfield), Arjun Sethi (Tribe Capital), Max Altman (Apollo Projects), Garrett Salpeter (NeuFit), Gordie Gronkowski, Jr. (Gronk Fitness; VUE Drink), Brek Shea (Blade & Grass FC), Michael Ma (Liquid 2VC; CreatorDAO), Jesse Boskoff (Status Labs), Harold Hughes (Bandwagon), Devon Low & Jeremy Hills (Kollective), Bill Vuylsteke (ProvidentFM), Nancy Fechnay (Founder, Unique Ventures), Ted Moskovitz (Founder, DecentraNet), Brad Palmer (Palm Ventures), Limited Ventures, Jason Loebig (Live Better Co), Mike Krilivsky (NFTPay), Drew Austin and Elana Dickman's Red Beard Ventures, Spencer Kaye (Transform Capital), Eric Goldreyer (bnbfinder), Tony Gupta (LXMI Capital), Lucas Siegel (Flukies Capital), Nick Jarjour (JarjourCo), and TRID and Sheena Melwani (Content Creator and Media Personality), among others.

For more information on the Texas Ranchers, please visit https://ranchers.com/ and follow the team on Instagram.

ABOUT TEXAS RANCHERS
The Texas Ranchers is the premier Major League Pickleball (MLP) team in the United States, located in Austin, Texas. Founded by Bryan Sheffield with an investment by tech banker Tim Klitch, the Texas Ranchers were one of the founding MLP teams in 2021. Now helmed by 26-year-old serial entrepreneur, Evan Floersch, alongside Ted Moskovitz and Nancy Fechnay, the Texas Ranchers are supported by an influential list of more than 30 owners including professional athletes, artists, pop culture figures, business moguls, entrepreneurs and investors. With a mission to become America's Pickleball Team, the Ranchers are committed to redefining what sports ownership looks like in the future and how sports can leave a lasting, positive impact on the world and countless communities. For more information, please visit https://ranchers.com/.

ABOUT MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL (MLP BY MARGARITAVILLE)
Major League Pickleball (MLP by Margaritaville) is the preeminent team-based professional pickleball league and the standard-bearer for the fastest-growing sport in the United States. Founded by Steve Kuhn in 2021, MLP has since expanded from eight to 24 teams and is committed to growing the sport's role in society and impacting every facet of pickleball's business.

MLP features nearly 100 of the best athletes in the sport spread across 24 teams, a unique coed format, iconic team owners, an innovative draft format, easy to understand scoring, and the largest payouts in prize money across all of pro pickleball.

In December 2022, MLP named its first-ever title sponsor, Margaritaville, branding the league MLP by Margaritaville. A global lifestyle brand inspired by Jimmy Buffett, Margaritaville, has served more than 20 million travelers and consumers every year to change their latitude and attitude with Margaritaville. For more information, visit www.margaritaville.com.

For more information on Major League Pickleball, visit the official website and follow MLP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Texas Ranchers

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